In January, members of the association were involved in sales of 217 homes. That was down 6.5 percent from the 232 sold in January 2013, but it was just the second time in the past 13 months that sales were down year over year.

Steve Bois, CEO of the association, pointed out in a news release that there were six days in January that the high temperatures didn't reach 10 degrees and 14 nights with average lows below zero degrees.

While a drop in sales was understandable because of the brutal weather, the three-month rolling average price took a tumble as well. At the end of January, the average price of homes sold in November, December and January fell to $95,037, down 4.1 percent from $99,173 at the end of January 2013.

The Realtors association attributed the decline to "an unusually high level of activity in distressed property sales at the lower price range." Nearly half of the sales in January were short sales or foreclosed properties.

Bois and the housing association still believe home prices will rise in 2014 because fewer foreclosed homes are coming on the market and the number of homes for sale continues to drop. In 2013, foreclosures in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties fell to their lowest levels since 2006. And in January the monthly housing inventory fell to 1,881 homes and condos for sale, the lowest for January since 2003.